The Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Penguins (notice the marine iguanas on the rock as well?)

Sperm Whale
Sea Turtle

Post Office Barrel

Waved Albatross feeding her chick

Baby Sea Lion, just seconds after being born!

Sea lion giving birth--the baby is still in the amniotic sac!

Nazca Boobies

Lava Lizard

Baby Sea Lion--so cute! Blue-Footed Boobie with chick

Baby Sea Lion--so cute!

Sleeping Sea Lions

Jensen with her friend Lilliana, and the sea lion

Galapagos Hawk

Moms and babies Pencil Urchin

Fur Seal

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Two baby Sea Lions kissing!

Giant Tortoise

Our family with a Giant Tortoise!

Marine Iguanas (bet you thought it was just a bunch of lava!)

Swallow-Tailed Gull

Our ship--The National Geographic Endeavor

Sea Lion--how sweet is that face??!!

Land Iguana

Male Frigate bird with his red neck pouch inflated

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had great holidays, and that the new year is starting off well.
I know it’s been awhile now since we’ve been to the Galapagos, but I’ve just been busy, and unable to finish this entry. I did start it though, while still on the ship, so that’s why this entry sounds strange (as if I’m still on the ship). In any case, I thought I’d just leave it the way I started it, and finally get it finished!

I don’t even know how to begin. This Galapagos trip has been the most incredible experience of our lives, and we are only halfway through it! Each day, we think there is nothing that can top this, and then the next day, we see something even more incredible than the day before. Honestly, I feel like I could write a whole book just on what we’ve experienced in the last 4 days. And the pictures we’ve taken—just incredible. Thank goodness for digital cameras because I am easily taking 200 plus pictures on every outing we go on, and sometimes we go on 2-3 a day! I download the pictures to my computer and clear my memory card after each outing, so sometimes I am doing this several times a day. Today, I have done it 3 times already, and it is only noon! This is a very active trip. We hardly ever have any down time, and we are all exhausted each night—barely being able to stay up for dinner, which is at 7:30.

Well, let me start at the beginning, and I’ll try to do the trip justice, but some of it is just too incredible to put into words, and even the pictures don’t do it justice—you just had to be there to experience it.

We flew from Spain to Ecuador Friday afternoon, and after an 11 hour flight, landed in Quito, Ecuador at about 6:00 PM, Friday. We stayed overnight in a hotel there, and met our National Geographic group at 5:30 the next morning. From the hotel, we headed to the airport and took a 30 minute flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where we picked up more people from our group. Then, we took a 1.5 hour flight to Baltra Island, in the Galapagos.

When we got to the dock, we found it inhabited by Galapagos Sea Lions. They were lying all over the dock, including on the benches, completely oblivious to us, even though we were no more than a few feet from them. We had to take a zodiac out to our ship, and once on board, we found our rooms, and had lunch. By 3:30, we had landed at our first island, North Seymour Island.

At North Seymour Island, we saw tons of sea lions and lots of land iguanas. They all just sat there staring at us, almost posing for us. They showed no fear of us, even when we were just inches from them. If we had been allowed, we could have just reached right out and touched them; that’s how close we were to them. The other animals we saw were Swallow-Tailed Gulls, Blue-Footed Boobies, a beautiful bird with bright blue feet, and Frigate birds. The male Frigate birds have a neck pouch that is bright red, and it blows up like a huge balloon when they are trying to attract females. The other interesting thing about these birds is that they are not able to swim and dive because they do not produce enough oil to coat their feathers and make them waterproof. So what they do in order to eat is wait around for other birds that have just caught something from the ocean. You’ll see the Frigate birds up in the air, circling, as the other birds are diving and fishing. Once the other bird comes up with his catch, the Frigate bird attacks him by shaking him around so that he coughs up the fish he just caught, and now the Frigate bird has a meal. We called this “The Shakedown”. The Frigate birds mostly attack the Blue-Footed Boobies.

There are 3 different types of “Boobies”: the Blue-Footed, Red-Footed, and Nazca (also called the Masked boobie. We did not get to see the Red-Footed, but did see the other two. They got their “boobie” name because they look a bit like clowns. Sometimes, people will say someone is a boob, if they act clown-like, so that is how they got their name.

At lunch, on our first day, we sat next to a family that looked like they had kids about the same age as Jensen and Dustin. I asked them how old their kids were, and they were just turning 9 (the boy) and 12 (the girl), exactly the same ages as Jensen and Dustin! We introduced the kids, and after that, they were inseparable for the entire trip. Bill and I got along very well with their parents as well, so our 2 families spent a lot of time together. In fact, we became such good friends with them that we are planning to go visit them this summer at their home in Cape Cod. We are also planning another trip with them in early 2011—to Antarctica!

Day 2 we visited Espanola Island. In the morning, we visited a part of the island called Punta Suarez. This was one of the most incredible days ever! First, we saw a Waved Albatross coming back from the sea to feed her baby. We got to see the reunion of the two, and watched while the mom fed her baby. When the baby is just 2 weeks old, the mom will typically leave him for up to 2 weeks at a time. When she returns, she feeds him an incredible amount of oil (up to 2 kg) made up of digested fish and squid. This then allows him to go without eating for another 2 weeks. It was funny watching the mom and the baby because the baby is almost as big as the mom. These birds are huge! They are one of the biggest birds in the islands, and nearly the entire world population of these birds is located on Espanola Island in the Galapagos. When the mom got tired of feeding her baby, she started walking away from him, but the baby would just run after her and demand more food. It was funny to watch.

As we were returning to our zodiacs, we came across a sea lion in labor. The guides kept trying to get us back to the zodiacs to go back to the ship for lunch, but we did not want to miss out on seeing a sea lion being born. We really had no idea how long it would take—could have been days or hours, but we lucked out, and in less than 30 minutes, we got to watch the entire birth of a sea lion. This was an incredible moment and very emotional. I had tears in my eyes as the baby came out. The baby was born flippers first (breech), and the amniotic sac did not break as it came out, so we watched the mom as she reached back and broke the sac by biting it. I cannot tell you how lucky we were to get to see this. We were literally just a few feet from this sea lion as she gave birth—really incredible! We did not think anything could beat this experience. And although this was my favorite part, we got to see lots more after that that was just as exciting.

In the afternoon, we visited a different part of Espanola Island called Gardner Bay. Here, the kids played on the beach, and I went snorkeling. I’m still a beginner snorkeler, but it was a good experience for me as it was the first time I went without Bill. Usually I’m holding onto his hand for dear life. I felt comfortable, and felt ready for deep water snorkeling, which we would be doing the next day.

On the beach, the kids played amongst the sea lions. The sea lions came up onto the beach and checked everything out. Some of them lay on our towels, sniffed our shoes, and fell asleep against our backpacks. The kids built a sand castle, and one of the sea lions apparently thought they had built it just for him. He came up and just lay right down on it. The kids continued to build right next to him, and he was completely oblivious to it.

Day 3 we landed at Floreana Island. The first thing we did early in the morning (before breakfast) was to visit Post Office Barrel. This is a place where they have an old mail swap tradition which goes back to the whaling days in the 1700s. There is an old barrel where people will leave their mail. Then, anyone coming through will check the mail to see if any of it is going to their hometown. If so, the tradition states that you are to take the mail home with you, and hand deliver it to the addressee. Nowadays, it’s not always feasible to hand deliver a letter to someone you don’t even know, but people will take letters home and at least mail them from their hometown.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning snorkeling and going out in a glass bottom boat. In the afternoon, we took a hike and saw flamingos, and later went kayaking. This was my first time kayaking, and it was definitely an interesting experience. I was in a kayak with Jensen (Bill with Dustin), and we were not very coordinated together. I think I may have done better on my own, but overall, it was not my favorite experience.

Each island we visited had a totally unique look to it—almost like we were in a different country with each island we visited. I was surprised to see so many cacti on many of the islands; it just wasn’t what I was expecting to find in the Galapagos. The unique beauty of each island just astounded me. I am not usually one who likes to take pictures of just landscape; I always want people in my pictures. But everything here was so incredibly beautiful that I didn’t want to mess up the pictures with people!

Day 4 we hit Isabela and Fernandina Islands. The day started off early with us looking for whales. And boy did we luck out! After about an hour of looking, we were rewarded with a pod of Sperm whales! They were swimming right next to the boat for a good 30 minutes or so. We were so excited to see them, as the guides said that typically they are only seen about twice a year. Not long after that, a family of Orcas (killer whales) was spotted! We were able to quickly get into the zodiacs and got to see an up close and personal view of these incredible whales. They were right next to our zodiacs, and in one case one came right under our zodiac! They were amazing to watch, coming up out of the water. My camera was too slow to get any good pictures, but others on the trip got some great photos. This was just like Sea World, but in the wild! After a bit of time, we turned back, as the guides felt that the whales were getting stressed out with all the zodiacs out there pursuing them.

On our way back from seeing the Orcas, we rode along the cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca, as well as into a small cave. We saw penguins, flightless cormorants, sea turtles, sea lions, and jelly fish. The penguins were so cute! The Galapagos Penguin is the smallest of all penguin species. There were 3 of them on a rock, and they all just kept staring at this one point, as if they were waiting for some incredible thing to happen, or waiting for their leader to return.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Punta Espinosa, an area covered with pahoehoe lava, which is the ropy kind of lava. There were tons of marine iguanas there, and they blended right in with the lava. Sometimes, we would look out, and think we were just looking at lava, but then realize that it was actually tons of marine iguanas laying all over the lava. These iguanas were everywhere, and we really had to be careful not to step on them. They blended in so well with their surroundings that it was very difficult to see them. The other really cool animal we saw while here was the Sally Lightfoot Crab. These are beautifully colored crabs, with reds, yellows, and blues. Bill and I just fell in love with these crabs and were always fighting for the camera because we both just couldn’t get enough pictures of these guys!

The other exciting thing that happened on this day is that we crossed the equator. They had a special ceremony for all the kids to go from being Pollywogs to Shellbacks. I’m not quite sure where this whole legend started, but I think it had something to do with King Triton. Bill knew all about it, being that he used to be in the Navy. In any case, all the kids on the ship (though some did not participate) had to go up to the pool on the ship and jump in (the water was cold!). After that, they had to drink some type of nasty juice which was supposedly the blood of an octopus. Then they all had to kiss an octopus! It was dead, and it wasn’t even a whole octopus, but the kids all screamed nonetheless. All the ship’s crew was dressed up as pirates and one as King Triton. The kids each got a special shellback name too. Jensen was called Mola Mola (a Sunfish), and Dustin was called Rainbow Trout. It was fun for the kids and they all got certificates stating they were now Shellbacks.

Day 5 we spent at Santa Cruz Island. We took the zodiacs out to Puerto Ayora, which is where the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) is. I had thought I was really going to like this, but this ended up being one of my least favorite parts of the trip. This is where they have a giant tortoise breeding program. It’s actually really great because this program works at restoring the unique ecological balance of the islands, and it works to increase the Giant Tortoise population. I just wasn’t too excited seeing all of these tortoises in captivity. However, the goal is to breed them so that they can then release them in the wild, so it is a good program, but in my eyes, it just couldn’t compete with seeing a sea lion give birth! We got to meet Lonesome George, a Giant Tortoise from Pinta Island. He is the only one left of his species. A reward of $10,000 has been offered to find a true Pinta female to breed with him, but has been unsuccessful thus far. It is likely that his race will become extinct when he dies.

After we spent time at the CDRS, we had time to walk around and shop in the little town of Puerto Ayora. About 15,000 people live here, and I believe that this is the only island that is inhabited by humans. We then drove in a bus to the highlands where we had lunch at a beautiful restaurant, which actually was somebody’s home! They had turned it into a hotel/restaurant though. After lunch, we visited a pair of huge pit craters called Los Gemelos. These were huge and deep, and very cool to look at. It was foggy and misty at the time, so they had a very unique look to them.

After the pit craters, we went to see the Giant Tortoises in the wild! These tortoises were actually on the property of a Galapagos native. His property just happened to be in the middle of a tortoise migratory route! We all had to wear these big rubber boots, which we were very glad to have because we were trekking through tall grasses and mud, as well as lots of tortoise poop! We didn’t have to look too hard to find tortoises because they were all over the place. However, they each tended to stay to themselves, so we didn’t see lots of them all together in one place. They all seemed to have their own little space or territory. These guys were just massive! We were able to get quite close to them without spooking them out. When they did get scared, they just put their heads into their shells and stayed that way for awhile. It was so great watching them walk. They were so slow, and it just seemed so laborious for them. It seemed they could never get to where they were going, but they did!

That evening, back on board the ship, we were entertained by Ecuadorian dancers and musicians. We were so tired though, that we did not stay for the whole show. I think Bill actually was in bed before the show even started!

Day 6, we were still at Santa Cruz Island, but now on the north-western coast in an area called Cerro Dragon, which means “Dragon Hill”. This is the home of the endemic Galapagos land iguana. They were almost wiped out by feral dogs in the ‘60s, but a successful breeding program has allowed them to recover. We spent the morning hiking around looking for the iguanas. They were difficult to see, as they blended in quite well with their surroundings, but I think we counted about 7. The kids were tired this morning, and were not super thrilled with this hike. Instead of listening to the guide, they often were seen drawing pictures in the dirt. By this time in the trip, we were all pretty tired, but we wanted to do everything because we didn’t want to miss out on something.

Once done with the hike, we hurried back to the ship on the zodiacs to change into our wetsuits to go snorkeling. I think I snorkeled nearly every time available. Bill went much of the time as well, but sometimes stayed back with the kids. Dustin went once or twice, and Jensen not at all. I mostly always enjoyed it, but it was cold, even with a wetsuit on. After about an hour in the water, I found myself curling up into a little ball, trying to stay warm. This particular snorkeling outing was not a good one for me. My mask kept fogging up, and then while I was trying to fix my mask, my snorkel fell off! It sank into the water, but someone dived down and retrieved it for me. Everyone kept seeing cool things like an octopus, but my mask was so fogged up that I couldn’t see anything! Then, we got into some strong currents and it was just too much for me. I was not a strong enough swimmer to get through it and I signaled the zodiac to come pick me up. I was done for that morning!

Later that afternoon though, we snorkeled again and it was amazing! We were in an area called Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat). We swam through millions of fish. There were just these incredible schools of fish swimming all around us. We were surrounded. I couldn’t even put my arms out without touching some of them. We saw a really pretty fish that looked like the true Rainbow Fish, if any of you are familiar with that book. We saw some great starfish, a manta ray, and even a shark! I was scared, but Bill went right after it to take pictures! I think it was a White-Tipped Reef Shark, and it wasn’t real big, but still—it was a shark!

After we got back from snorkeling, one of the guides took all the kids out on a zodiac and let each of them have a turn driving. They wanted a couple of parents along, just in case, and lucky me, I was one of those parents! Do you know what it’s like being on a little zodiac with 10-15 screaming kids—most of them pre-teen girls???!!! Loud! Very loud! But the kids had fun, and when they returned they all got official zodiac licenses stating that they had not crashed, and were now capable of driving a zodiac (with supervision, of course). While we were out in the zodiac, we saw a manta ray jump out of the water several times. The guide said that it was likely a juvenile who was playing, and just jumped out of the water to see what was out there. It was cool to see, but again, my camera was too slow to catch him out of the water.

After all the activities of the day, we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn’t quite the same as being at home with family, but still quite enjoyable with our new friends.

Day 7 we landed on Bartolome Island. We started off the early morning (before breakfast) with a hike up to the summit of the island. To control erosion, a wooden staircase was built up to the summit—372 steps!! I thought I was in good shape before this hike, but thought differently once I made it to the top. At least I made it! It was definitely worth it. The view was fabulous!

After breakfast, we headed out to the beach for another gorgeous walk, and then went snorkeling. This was a great snorkeling outing! It was a very clear, sunny day and the water was very clear. We saw lots of great fish, as well as penguins and sea lions! Can you imagine snorkeling with sea lions and penguins???!!! It was so exciting! I just couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. The kids stayed on the beach and the penguins and sea lions came right up to them on shore as well. They loved it!

Later in the afternoon, we did another great hike. This one was at Puerto Egas on Santiago Island. We saw a little bit of everything on this hike—sea lions, pelicans, boobies, crabs, iguanas, lizards, hawks, and fur seals. Fur seals are actually not seals at all, but are sea lions. Sea lions have ears, and seals don’t, and these fur seals have ears, so that makes them sea lions. Not sure why they’re called seals. They don’t look too different from the sea lions, but just different enough that you can see they are a different species.

The sea lions were so cute! There were 2 little babies, and they came up to each other and touched noses, as if they were kissing. It was really precious. I got a picture, so I’ll try to post it. We also saw babies nursing on their moms, and they were so loud!

The rest of our last day we spent packing and gearing up for the next part of our trip to Peru.

We were already exhausted; we weren’t sure how we were going to make it for another week!

The next day we took the zodiacs back to Baltra Island, and then took a bus to the airport. We flew back to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where most of our group stayed for the night, before heading back to the US. We spent a little bit of time swimming at the pool and saying a teary goodbye to our friends. Jensen cried for the next two days. Then, we headed back to the airport to head to Peru for the next part of our trip (will write about that in another entry).

And that concluded our trip to the Galapagos! This was really the most awesome trip we have ever taken. Even Bill, who wasn’t too excited about it to begin with, really loved it. What was so cool about this trip was that every day there was something new and exciting to see. We never knew what we were going to encounter day to day, or minute to minute. This is a place that I would definitely visit again, and if anyone wants a suggestion as to where to take their next vacation, I would most definitely recommend the Galapagos Islands!!

Well, that finally ends this blog entry. Sorry it took me so long to get it posted.

Happy New Year!
Cheers!

Laurie